Word Vomit is 1000 words in 15 minutes, unedited.
One of the favourite things I’ve ever done was to put a jug of water in my fridge. I found that we had a couple of empty unused jugs in one of my kitchen cabinets. I recalled how, at the kopitiam near my house, the coffeeshop staff would keep jugs of Milo, Kopi and Teh in the fridge, so that they could quickly and easily pour out glasses for anybody who ordered iced versions of those drinks. I connected the two together, and figured that it would be useful to have a jug of water in the fridge. What I love about this idea is that it’s so simple and intuitive- nobody else in my family asked me about the jug, everybody just started using it as though we had agreed upon it. It was obvious what the jug of water was supposed to be for- to chill water- and I’ve been drinking much more water ever since.
I wonder, how many other areas of my life are there where I could implement such simple ideas to great effect? I do squats in the shower. I’ve always had skinny legs, and I still do, but I actually feel my legs getting a little stronger from the squats. I mean, it’s such a trivial thing, but 20 squats every morning- and 20 pushups after that- has made me fitter, happier, more productive. Most importantly, like the jug of water, it requires no additional thought.
It occurs to me that the best ideas are those that get easily implemented without any resistance whatsoever. If an idea takes time to implement, it’s tedious, troublesome and difficult- well, then it’s not a very useful idea, is it? We have to take human fallibility and frailty into account when we’re designing for humans.
Let’s think of a few other simple ideas that are easy to implement and could potentially go a long way. A motivational desktop wallpaper that reminds you of something you feel you ought to be reminded of. We should surround our workspaces (and really, all our spaces) with things that evoke positive ideas and emotions in us.
I remember that there was a guy in my Signals course who most people found annoying, because he was always so gung-ho and achievement-obsessed. I thought that he lacked a certain social finesse- he didn’t seem to know how to adequately convey his ideas to people who didn’t think or feel the same way he did- but on hindsight, that fella had something going for him. I remember seeing him open his cupboard in his bunk, and there was some motivational stuff on the inside. A picture of his previous platoon- all go-getters. There was some inspirational quote about working hard, or pushing yourself, or something. It doesn’t matter what it was, the point was that it contributed somehow to his overall disposition and work ethic. Just because I didn’t really like him all that much doesn’t mean that I can’t respect his ability to get things done. If I had a task that needed to be accomplished, I would’ve assigned it to him, rather than myself. He’s a more reliable man than I. That’s something to think about.
When I look back on my own life, I can certainly identify moments where I have flashes of inspiration, of passion, impulses and urges to do things. These moments are fleeting at best- they are like sparks that shine brightly for a few moments, and then fizzle and go out. Ideally, we want these moments to endure- sure, we’re never going to be deliriously passionate 24/7, but that doesn’t mean we should live in the darkness of ennui and melancholy the rest of the time. What we need is to allow the sparks develop into a proper flame. We need to provide kindling for the sparks to land on, so that ignition takes place, and a fire burns. We need to make sure that there’s adequate fuel, so that it doesn’t burn out.
I got to know a guy who describes himself as a social activist, and the term he uses is “firestarter”. I’m guessing that I got most of this idea from my brief interactions with him. I took it a step further and suggested that we use the term “arson”, because it’s a bit more fun, exciting, evil, insidious. We are social arsonists. We set ourselves on fire, and each other. I can visualise the slides and powerpoint presentations- a little cheeky looking fella, set ablaze, running around setting other things on fire. The fire becomes its own reward. It’s like a game. There’s something about that whole interface that seems very intuitive to me, and I have to try and keep that alive because it will be useful one day.
So- motivational stuff. I think to most normal intelligent people, motivational posters and the like seem to be very “hocus-pocus”, snake oil. The self-help industry seems to be a somewhat poisonous one- after all, nobody seems to get magically productive after reading those books, otherwise the industry would kill itself- everybody would learn to help themselves and there would be no market left for these self-help gurus.
But I think we threw the baby out with the bathwater in that one. Yes, there are a lot of hacks who are just out to exploit other people, and there’s a lot of jiggery-pokery hoot-nanny (… what?) going on. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t or shouldn’t harness the power of emotion to get ourselves going. Therein lies the logical error that logical people often make- just because some emotional people turn out to be really wonky, quirky, random, unpredictable, crazy, etc- doesn’t mean that effective people distance themselves from emotion. I think if we study success- and this is so important, we should be studying successful people in schools, just as we try to teach people to be healthy and fit- we find that all great successful people are swimming in a sea of emotion, even if they use logical systems to get what they want. Neil Degrasse Tyson strikes me as a profoundly emotional person, a person deeply in touch with his emotions.
Off to think about what other jugs of water I can come up with. Here’s a video of Neil Tyson sharing his passion.